Investigating the role of an enterprise architecture project in the business-IT alignment in Iran

Ensuring that IT and business have a more mature alignment relationship is recognized as being critical to an organization’s success. To achieve alignment leveraging, enterprise architecture (EA) is considered fundamental as a comprehensive approach to planning and managing IT actions within the organization, based on its business requirements. This paper reports on a study to assess the effect of successful EA projects on the business-IT alignment in Iranian organizations, using the Luftman’s maturity model as the assessment tool. The implications of our findings in this study as well as its limitations are discussed to assist in detecting the flaws in the existing EA frameworks and to propose improvements.     

Standards-comparing, contrasting ISO 9001 and the SEI capabilitymaturity model

The Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institutes's (SEI's) five-level framework for engineering practices in a successful software development organization and the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 9000 series of standards, which describes the key requirements for companies and organizations doing business in the European Community, are reviewed. The origins of the models are discussed, and the two models are compared and contrasted     

Fuzzy Logic Based Group Maturity Rating for Software Performance Prediction

Driven by market requirements,software services organizations have adopted various software engineering process models (such as capability maturity model (CMM),capability maturity model integration (CMMI),ISO 9001:2000,etc.) and practice of the project management concepts defined in the project management body of knowledge.While this has definitely helped organizations to bring some methods into the software development madness,there always exists a demand for comparing various groups within the organization in terms of the practice of these defined process models.Even though there exist many metrics for comparison,considering the variety of projects in terms of technology,life cycle,etc.,finding a single metric that caters to this is a difficult task.This paper proposes a model for arriving at a rating on group maturity within the organization.Considering the linguistic or imprecise and uncertain nature of software measurements,fuzzy logic approach is used for the proposed model.Without the barriers like technology or life cycle difference,the proposed model helps the organization to compare different groups within it with reasonable precision.     

Comparing practices for reuse in integration‐oriented software product lines and large open source software projects

This article compares the organization and practices for software reuse in integration‐oriented software product lines (SPLs) and open source software projects. The main observation is that both approaches are successful regarding large variability and reuse, but differ widely in their practices and organization. To capture practices in large open source projects, we describe an open compositional model, which reflects their more decentralized organization of software development. We capture key practices and organizational forms for this and validate these by comparing four case studies of this model. Two of these studies are based on published SPL case studies, for the other two we analyze the practices in two large and successful open source projects based on their published developer documentation. Our analysis highlights key differences between the practices in the two open source organizations and the more integrational practices used in the other two cases. Finally, we discuss which practices are successful in which environment and how the current practices can move towards more open, widely scoped and distributed software development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is the European industry moving toward solving requirements engineering problems?

Requirements engineering is critical for successful software development. Nowadays, software development organizations are not likely to question the importance of issues related to requirements management (RM) and specification. However, despite its importance, the requirements process has traditionally been connected with a host of problems. Frederick Brooks (1987) used the two Aristotelian categories, essential and accidental, to classify these problems. As systems become more complex, software developers can do little to overcome essential difficulties such as software invisibility or pressure for change. However, several surveys have highlighted principal flaws in the requirements process that can be linked to accidental difficulties such as tool integration or bad documentation. Not only are these problems solvable, they're also often ones that researchers have already addressed. For years, researchers have conducted requirements engineering-related surveys, revealing problems and identifying potential solutions. Yet according to our own survey, RE problems persist.     

A minimal test practice framework for emerging software organizations

Testing takes a large share of software development efforts, and hence is of interest when seeking improvements. Several test process improvement frameworks exist, but they are extensive and much too large to be effective for smaller organizations. This paper presents a minimal test practice framework (MTPF) that allows the incremental introduction of appropriate practices at the appropriate time in rapidly expanding organizations. The process for introducing the practice framework tries to minimize resistance to change by maximizing the involvement of the entire organization in the improvement effort and ensuring that changes are made in small steps with a low threshold for each step. The practice framework created and its method of introduction have been evaluated at one company by applying the framework for a one‐year period. Twelve local software development companies have also evaluated the framework in a survey. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An exploration of the relationship between software development process maturity and project performance

Software projects have a high rate of failure. Organizations have tried to reduce the rate through methodological approaches but with little perceived success. A model of software development maturity (the capability maturity model (CMM)) describes managerial processes that can be used to attack software development difficulties from the managerial control perspective at five maturity levels. Our study examined performance of projects in relation to the activities at these various levels of maturity. A survey of software engineers indicated that the activities associated with the managerial control of development related positively to project performance measures. However, not each level of maturity demonstrated observable benefits, indicating that greater caution is needed in the planning and implementation of the activities.     

Enabling Software Process Improvement: An Investigation of the Importance of Organizational Issues

This doctoral study was initiated to explore the relative importance of organizational issues in software process improvement. It is based on a pilot case study, a multiple case study of twelve organizations, and a quantitative survey among 120 software organizations. The findings from the investigations suggest that the key to successful learning is a continuous and simultaneous dialectic interplay between the knowledge that the organization has established over time, and the knowing of the organization's members in their respective contexts. Also, the findings indicate that success depends critically on six organizational factors. Finally, the findings show that there are important differences between small and large software organizations, specifically in the ways in which they react to unstable and changing stimulus situations.     

An empirical examination of application frameworks success based on technology acceptance model

Framework-based development is currently regarded as one of the most promising software development approaches when it comes to improvements in lead time, productivity and quality. However, many frameworks and projects based on frameworks still report failures, which indicate that there are problems related to both frameworks technology and frameworks usage. The objective of our research was to examine the major drivers that have an impact on a framework’s acceptance and a framework’s success. We used the technology acceptance model (TAM) and Seddon’s information systems success model as our underlying theory. Data collected from an online survey of 389 active framework users was used to test hypothesized models. Data analysis was performed via structural equation modeling. Our findings support the post-adoption version of TAM and the relationship between continuous use and the successful use of systems, where more use also means more net benefits. We found that the successful use of frameworks is mainly dependent on two factors: continuous framework usage intention and the perceived usefulness of the framework. Several practical and theoretical implications can be foreseen including advances in framework development guidelines and insight into the relationship between the acceptance and success of frameworks.     

Factors affecting the quality of software project management: an empirical study based on the Capability Maturity Model

Rigorous project management can help raise a software product development process from an initial, immature stage that is unstable and unrepeatable to an optimized maturity level characterized by continuous improvement and innovation. Goals and actions related to a repeatable project management process have been outlined in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The CMM provides good guidelines for initiating software process improvement particularly in the project management area; however, the successful implementation of the CMM guidelines is often not accomplished without significant organizational change involving increased emphasis on change management, teams and employee empowerment. This paper is empirically based on observations, surveys, and interviews of project team managers and project team members in a large, multinational organiplanning, change management, quality management, team work, and process control. Findings presented in this paper are correlated with the CMM guidelines as well as organizational factors that were found to enable or impede the successful deployment of various aspects of a project management improvement plan. The role of education and training in process and quality techniques as well as project management tools that support group work is also examined. This paper provides some insight into the issues faced by organizations based on traditional hierarchy or matrix management as they attempt to move into a more process-driven, quality-oriented development environment. As organizations move towards global markets they need increased emphasis on quality, value, teams, standards and global project management strategies based on structured guidelines to handle process flow within and between projects, departments, organizations, and national boundaries.     

How to improve the assessment of BPM maturity in the era of digital transformation

For almost 30 years, the way of building business process management maturity models (BPM MMs), the importance assigned to individual maturity levels, and the criteria and critical success factors chosen for BPM maturity assessment have not changed significantly, despite the fact that during those three decades, the business environment and organizations themselves have changed enormously. The impact of hyperautomation and the increasing pace of change require the integration of maturity assessment with the BPM implementation methodology, including the repetition of maturity assessment for selected groups of processes. This causes an urgent need to adapt both process maturity assessment methods and BPM MMs to changing working conditions and business requirements. This conceptual paper is based on a model approach. The framework presented in the article continues and at the same time clearly deviates from the tradition of building BPM MMs on the basis of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). It proposes a two-stage comprehensive process of organizational process maturity assessment, fully integrated into the process of BPM implementation and further business process management. The presented framework makes it possible to assess the process maturity of Industry 4.0 organizations in which dynamic knowledge-intensive business processes (kiBPs) play a key role in creating value.

     

面向微服务架构的开发组织适应性评估框架

目前,一种称为微服务的架构风格正受到越来越多的关注.它给软件项目带来好处的同时,也影响着使用微服务架构的开发组织.研究目的是明确微服务的使用对开发组织产生了哪些影响,这些影响对于组织来说是优势还是挑战.对此进行了 一次系统文献综述,并通过元-民族志对定性数据进行合成,最终得出了使用微服务架构对组织产生影响的7个方面,分...     

Using the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approach for measuring the possibility of successful knowledge management

This study develops a forecasting framework based on the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making (FMCDM) approach to help organizations build awareness of the critical influential factors on the success of knowledge management (KM) implementation, measure the success possibility of knowledge management projects, as well as identify the necessary actions prior to embarking on conducting knowledge management. Subjectivity, uncertainty and vagueness within the prediction process are dealt with using linguistic variables parameterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. By multiplying the importance weights of influential factors and the possible rating of success (failure), predicted success (failure) values are determined to enable organizations to decide whether to initiate knowledge management, inhibit adoption or undertake remedial improvements to increase the possibility of successful knowledge management project. The proposed approach is demonstrated using a real case involving a Taiwanese semiconductor engineering corporation.     

Identifying and classifying processes (traditional and soft factors) that support COTS component selection: a case study

COTS-Based Systems (CBS) development focuses on building large software systems by integrating previously existing software components. CBS success depends on successful evaluation and selection of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software components to fit customer requirements. Literature shows that successful selecction of off-the-shelf systems to fit customer requirements remains problematic. This paper presents the outcome of a study aimed at using a social-technical approach to identify and classify processes (including traditional and soft factors) that support COTS software selection. The identified factors and lessons learnt from the case study assisted in elaborating and further development of Social-Technical Approach to COTS Evaluation framework (STACE).     

Post-implementation management of CASE methodology

Information system development methodologies and supporting CASE technology (collectively referred to as CASE methodology) are being widely used in organizations to improve the productivity and quality of the software development process. This paper reviews the implementation lifecycle of CASE methodology and suggests that the post-implementation stage is the most critical for ensuring its successful use and incorporation within an organization. Effective management of the post-implementation stage requires CASE methodology to be considered as a socio-technical innovation. The paper describes the key post-implementation processes and mechanisms for the monitoring of these processes. Finally, a field study is outlined to illustrate how these concepts have been applied to the management of a CASE methodology in a software development organization. The focus of our discussion is the framework for post-implementation management – the specific implementation guidelines for CASE methodology resulting from any such exercise are beyond the scope of this paper.     

Information Quality Assessment for Facility Management

Assessing the quality of building information models (BIMs) is an important yet challenging task within the construction industry as projects are increasingly being delivered with BIM. This is particularly essential for facility management (FM) users as downstream information consumers that depend on the quality of models developed in the previous project phases. The research presented in this paper addresses this challenge by introducing a framework for information quality assessment (IQA) of BIMs for FM uses. The IQA framework is the outcome of an extensive study of two large owner organizations involving numerous BIM projects. The framework is structured based on the essential FM subjects: assets, spaces, and systems, and the model characteristics: objects, attributes, relationships, and spatial information. The framework is then operationalized through the development and evaluation of information quality (IQ) tests using BIM model checking tools across three projects with different levels of detail and complexity. The proposed IQA framework and associated tests advance the state of knowledge about BIM quality in terms of methods to represent and evaluate conformance to owner requirements.     

Requirements capture and IS methodologies

Abstract. The problem of not using a methodological approach during the development process is well known and its implications for organizations clearly identified. This paper reports on a survey of information systems practice carried out to provide recent evidence about the use of development methodologies by different organizations. Data from 72 projects was obtained through a mail survey within the UK. The focus of the analysis is on the discovery of potential relationships between the use of methodologies for requirements capture and analysis and the characteristics of the projects     

Beyond the black box: knowledge overlaps in software outsourcing

The black-box approach - that is, the use of formal project requirements to transfer knowledge about the application problem domain from the client to the vendor organization - has long been the mainstay of outsourced software development. We've studied 209 custom application development projects in 209 global software development organizations. We used the study results to develop detailed guidelines for improving outsourcing practice and a client-vendor knowledge congruence assessment framework. The study's key finding is that effective outsourcing requires knowledge congruence - that is, a good fit in terms of business and technical knowledge across the client-vendor dyad. This uniquely extends the notion of the product/process fit from the manufacturing management arena into the more knowledge-driven domain of software engineering.     

A requirements engineering framework for cross-organizational ERP systems

The development of cross-organizational enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions is becoming increasingly critical to the business strategy of many networked companies. The major function of cross-organizational ERP solutions is to coordinate work in two or more organizations. However, how to align ERP application components and business requirements for coordination and cooperation is hardly known. This paper reports on the outcomes of applying a coordination theory perspective to an analysis of the ERP misalignment problem. We present a conceptual framework for analyzing coordination and cooperation requirements in inter-organizational ERP projects. The framework makes explicit the undocumented built-in assumptions for coordination and cooperation that may have significant implications for the ERP adopters and incorporates a library of existing coordination mechanisms supported by modern ERP systems. We use it to develop a proposal for how to achieve a better alignment between ERP implementations and supported business coordination processes in inter-organizational settings. We report on some early assessments of the implications of our framework for practicing requirements engineers. Both our framework and library rest on a literature survey and the first author’s experience with ERP implementation. In future empirical research, we will further validate and refine our framework.     

Uncovering ITIL claims: IT executives�� perception on benefits and Business-IT alignment

Over 45% of companies are estimated to use IT Service Management (ITSM) frameworks, yet, these frameworks can be imitated and hence the competitive advantage gained from these will quickly become obsolete. Therefore, research on the benefits of ITSM must focus on both operational and strategic benefits. An international survey of 441 firms was conducted to examine the benefits that IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the de-facto ITSM framework, provided to the IT organizations. The research focused on how (1) operational benefits, and, (2) strategic positioning of the IT organizations, specifically how the perceived level of Business-IT alignment maturity evolved as the adoption of ITIL increased. Results indicate that as the adoption of ITIL increased, the number of realized operational benefits increased, as well as the levels of maturity of the Business-IT alignment. This indicates that the further the implementation of ITIL the greater the operational and strategic benefits to the organization. Implications for practitioners and researchers are also discussed.